The use of optical fibers as light guides or wave guides is now common in such fields as communications, local area networks, data transmission and optoelectronics. The need for splicing two single fibers in end-to-end orientation is well recognized and much development has been done with fusion techniques and with mechanical devices to achieve precise axial alignment. The devices generally are expensive, require a highly skilled individual for correct application and usually grip only the optic fiber itself, resulting in a fragile assembly requiring delicate handling as well as additional protective packaging to prevent breaking the brittle fiber.
The available prior art devices often comprise many separate pieces, adding to the difficulty of assembly. Additionally, these pieces will vary dimensionally one to another, even under careful manufacturing practice, and these variations will contribute to lateral misalignment of the optic fibers being spliced. Lateral misalignment is the greatest single factor in optic signal loss in fiber splices. Further, existing mechanical splices typically do not permit inspection of the fiber to fiber orientation after the fibers are in their locked condition.
Many prior art devices employ V-shaped grooves to aid in aligning the fibers. One such device for mounting optical fibers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,632 which issued Jan. 7, 1986 to Parchet et al. This patent illustrates a base having a terminal positioning V-groove for placing a terminal in a reference position and a V-groove for positioning the optical fiber. Another device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,400 which issued Jan. 1, 1980 to Malso et al. This patent described a two-part connector for joining the optical fibers wherein each part contains as cylindrical sleeve with a V-shaped longitudinal groove sloped in relation to the axis of the sleeve. Other prior art devices employed V-shaped grooves or the like are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,444 issued May 6, 1980 to McCartney et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,731 issued Oct. 19, 1982 to B. Mouissie and assigned to the assignee of the present application, and U.K. Pat. No. 2,074,748B published July 27, 1983 and assigned to Socapex.